Inner workings
by beastguy79
Summary: Orcish Berserker fights his inner demons while being thrown through the magnificent conflicts of Skyrim. please R


I was happy. Happy for the first time in a long while. I was also freezing, tired and felt as though my feet were about to tear apart, but I guess if I had cared I wouldn't have lost my boots.

"_Lost!"_ screamed a voice in my head, "_that crooked guard stole your boots you simpleton!"_

_"Stolen, lost, it makes no difference,"_ said another voice in a calm and collected tone. "_We ought to make haste over the border before the guards catch us, please". _

I never knew why Malacath had chosen me to carry this curse, of the two most annoying demons in the Ashpit living inside my head. My mother almost fainted when I told her about them as a child, and in a panic took me on a one month long trip to a shrine in the Worthgarian Mountains. The waste of time revealed nothing from the Daedra but eerie silence, and left me trying to hold on to my sanity ever since. I was shaken from my rather unpleasant memories of childhood by the sound of horse hoofs on hard stone slabs and rushed into a bush by the road. It was a group of Nords, covered in dulled chain-mail and marching in tight step down the road towards me. I dashed from my seat on a stump beside the road to the bushes growing around a nearby oak tree. Trying to weigh my options was difficult with the demons constantly talking my ear off.

_"Punch the one on the right in the gut, pull the noble off his horse and ride it away into the sunset" _said Id in a wishful voice.

_"Absolutely not! Cool temperament and thought must prevail at all times."_

_"Shut up, you asinine fancies,"_ I hissed at my demons. I should really stop talking to them, it only encourages them. Turning my attention back to the people coming down the road, I made a split second that I would question for years to come.

I moved quietly through the brush until the procession was only about a dozen yards up the road. Taking a deep breath I stepped of the bush and cried, "Hello!" The group instantly stopped in their tracks, readied their weapons and looked at their leader expecting an order. It would have been obvious who he was even without all of his troops looking up at him; he was the only one sitting on a horse.

"What are you doing here, Orc?" asked the moustachioed noble

"Looking for a town and a place to sleep mostly. Had to brain a few Legionaries to get here too," I replied, trying to sound casual and not at all afraid of the twenty or so swords pointed in my direction.

_"Good, good,"_ cooed SE, _"the Nords hate the Empire." _

"_And if we happen to have run into the only Nords who love them, we'll have a quick death."_

_"Cut the snark,"_ my angry thought lashed out back at them.

"Well then", replied the noble, "there is always a place with us for those hunted by the empire."

_"Hehehe, suckers."_

"_Shut up Id."_

"Travel with us a ways," said the noble. "My name is Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm and true High King of Skyrim. John, find him some boots from the wagon," he ordered a young, dark haired man on the back of the wagon. "We'll be at Falkreath before nightfall".

"Thank you, Jarl Ulfric", I said bowing with my hand to my breast. Moving to the back of the wagon, I selected a pair of fur boots and fell in step with a blonde Nord just behind and to the left of the Jarl.

"Well then, the names Raloft," announced the man in a cheery tone.

"Or,gart," was all I was able to say before I felt an arrow pierce my chest. The arrow feet like fire and I fell to the ground in shock, hitting my head on the road to as I heard Raloft yelling about an ambush. With my vision slowly fading out to the sound of slow clapping in my head, I thought, "Oh fuck this place".

I awoke sometime later with a pain in my chest and a throbbing in my head. We were being transported down a snowy hill in a rickety wagon. The Imperials were dressed in leather skirts and jerkins with chain mail stitched into them. The armour was better made than standard issue and looked as though it was shined regularly, so these soldiers were ever fresh from Cyrodiil or there was a high ranking officer in charge of this company. The Legionaries had tied our hands and posted a guard on horseback at the rear of the wagon. Ahead of us another wagon was carrying the majority of the surviving stormcloaks.

"Hey you, you're the one who was trying to cross the border. Sorry you got caught up in that ambush." It was the blonde Nord from before.

"Well I'm sorry too, Raloft," I said, looking around and stretching my neck. "What's his story?" I asked, pointing my tied hands at the scruffy looking Nord beside Raloft.

"Some thief the Imperials caught further up the road".

"Curse you stormcloaks," snapped the thief. "Skyrim was fine before you came along, empire was nice and lazy. If it weren't for you I could have stolen that horse and be half way to Hammerfell by now." He looked across the cart and stared at Ulfric who was tied up and gagged beside me. "What's wrong with him?"

"Watch your tongue, that's Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King," barked Raloft.

"Ulfric Stormcloak! You're the leader of the rebellion! But if you're here… Oh gods where are they taking us!" moaned the thief.

"I don't know, but Sovngarde awaits". Ralofts aid

_"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"_ screamed Id. I almost jumped in shock at the sudden noise.

_"Would you shut up and let me think!" _I yelled back. I was trying to process all the news that was being throw at me in such a short time, and the hopelessness of my situation, but I hardly had time to digest the information, as we rounded a corner in the road and were rapidly approaching the gate of a small walled town.

As we rolled into town the thief began to blabber, I ignored him and Raloft as I looked around the town in which I would die. It was small and cold, with well-built but old dwellings as well as much larger walls than you would normally find in a town such as this. Waiting for us in the town square, a man in gleaming gold imperial armour sat on a horse with a group of Altmer in Thalmor uniforms.

"General Tullius, the military governor, and it looks like the Thalmor are with him. Damn elves, bet they had something to do with this". My head snapped over to Raloft.

"What would the Thalmor what with the leader of the stormcloaks?"

"They were the ones who banned the worship of Talos. We fight for that right".

_"Great, we got caught up in a fucking holy war, well done". _

_"QuiteQuiet, Id". _

Our conversation was cut short when the cart pulled up in near the headsman's block.

"Why are we stopping?" whimpered the thief.

"Why do you think? End of the line." Raloft said.

"You have to tell them, we weren't with you!"

"Face your death with some courage, thief," ordered Raloft as we filed off the end of the cart. Lining up in front of the imperial record keeper, we heard our names being called out.

"Ulfric Stormcloak, Yarl of Windhelm". You could hear the hatred in scribe's voice as the Yarl walked past.

"Raloft of Riverwood."

"Lokir of Rorikstead."

"You can't do this, we weren't with them!" the thief Lokir dashed past the scribe and pushed the captain beside him to the ground.

"Guards!" cried the Captain.

"You're not going to kill me!" shouted Lokir seconds before being turned into a human pincushion by the archers on the walls.

"Anyone else feel like running?" As veiled threats go it may as well have being dressed in lace. The captain and the scribe turned back from the Nord corpse and fixed their eyes on me.

"Who are you?" asked the scribe.

"What a deep and meaningful question."

"Shut up and tell us your name," came an order from the captain. Okay then, not the time to be a smartarse.

"Or,gart" I replied. I was getting a very bitchy vibe off this captain. She was pretty if you looked hard enough, but years in the legion had turned her face hard and a deep scar ran from her temple to the outer corner of her eye. An arrow by the look of it. If it was anything else she was very lucky, a sword or mace would have crushed her skull.

"Captain, what do I do? He's not on the list," the scribe asked.

"Forget the list, he goes to the block". Her voice was strong and heated as she glared at the scribe.

With a small smile on my face to stop me from flying into a rage, I informed her thusly.

"If by some miracle I get out of this, I'm going to piss down your throat... bitch."

After throwing my guts up on the ground from a vicious kick to the stomach, I was hauled over to the group awaiting execution. As I stood among the stormcloaks General Tullius began some type of victory speech.

"Ulfric Stormcloak, some here in Helgan call you a hero, but a hero doesn't use a power like the voice to murder his king and usurp his throne." Ulfric could only grunt in protest through his gag as Tullius continued. "You started this war, plunged Skyrim into chaos, but now the Empire is going to put you down and restore the peace". As Tullius ended his little ego stroke a far off roar was heard from the mountains.

"What was that?" asked the captain. Well then, maybe she did have a brain to go with that luscious, toned, well-endowed but still athletic body... wait, what was I thinking about. Oh someone's talking.

"It's nothing, carry on," commanded Tullius

"Yes General Tullius" came a reply from the captain. Sigh, too bad her commander had never hunted anything bigger than a deer. Otherwise he would have known, a roar coming from that far away and still that loud must have come from something big. I hoped it was only trying to find a mate or scare something thing off.

"Give them their last rights" said the Captain to a priestess standing off to one side. The priestess was an unremarkably specimen, her face and body hidden by a brown and yellow robe. She walked over to the bottom step of the tower behind the headsman's block and began her blessing.

"As we commend your souls the Aetherius, blessings of the eight Divines upon you. For you are the salt and the earth of Nirn".

"For the love of Talos, let's get this over with!" The interruption came from a red haired stormcloak to my right, as he marched towards the block.

"As you wish" came the annoyed response from the priestess. The man stood in front of the block and spoke as the captain pushed him onto it. "Come on, we haven't got all morning." As the headsman's axe rose in the air he shouted his final words. "My ancestors are smiling at me, Imperials! Can you say the same?"

The axe came down with shocking finality and his head dropped off into the basket. The body stiffened and then went slack, slumping to the side. The uproar from the Stormcloaks and townspeople fell on deaf ears as the captain called out, "Next the Orc". Another roar came from the hills, closer this time.

"What was that?" This time it was the scribe was asking the smart questions.

"I said, next prisoner," ordered the captain.

"To the block prisoner, nice and easy," called the scribe.

"nice and easy_"Nice and easy, nice and easy, he thinks that we'll just walk up there and lay down to died. Wait what are you doing?" _

Ignoring Ids' chatteringI walked towards the block, trying to think of how the hell I was going to escape this cluster fuck. I knelt in front of the block and felt the Captains' boot push on my back, forcing my head in to the bloody, wet stain on the block left by the red haired Nord. As I looked up at the hooded face of the executioner and beyond that to the clouded, miserable sky, I wondered what in the world I had done to the gods to deserve this fate. It was at the start of the axes deadly arc that I heard the sound of giant wings in the air above the tower.

"Dragon!" screamed one of the townspeople, and there perched on the top of the tower was the great and terrible beast. Its scales were jet black and left no gaps in its armour, its eyes were glowing red and filled with malice and its horns were bent like Molag Bals himself. It opened its mouth, revealing teeth like steel daggers and a great force ripped forth, throwing me back several yards across the courtyard.

I struggled to my feet, my head ringing from hitting the ground and turned my head to a voice on my right. "Hey, Or,gart, come on! The gods won't give us another chance." I turned towards the tower door that Raloft was standing in and stumbled towards it, narrowly missing being crushed by falling masonry on the way. When I reached the inside of the tower I slumped against the far wall and tried to collect my thoughts.

"Yarl Ulfric! What is that thing, could the legends be true?!" Raloft asked/

"Legends don't burn down villages." came the Yarls response.

"_Oh now that was a good line,"_ came the sound of SEs' voice.

"_Yes, and I would have time to appreciate it if I weren't trying to escape an overgrow salamander right now!" _

A screech filled the air as the Yarl ordered us up the tower to clear the rocks that had blocked the stairs to the walkway on top of the walls. Pulling myself to my feet I stumbled up the stairs with Raloft, arriving just in time to see the outer wall cave in and two stormcloaks disappear in a gout of flame. Raloft pulled me back down the stairs until the curve of the wall blocked us from the dragons gaze.

"We have to jump across to the inn on the other side!" cried Raloft over the roar of the fire.

"What! Are you crazy!" came my response.

"It's our only chance, wait until the dragon flies off and take a running leap!"

"_This is insane, let's go down and think about this"_ said Se.

"_JUMP, JUMP, JUMP, JUUUUUMP!" _roared Id

"Okay, okay!" I yelled back in Ralofts face. "Shut up, I'll jump!"

He looked at me as if I was crazy and then poked his head out around the corner.

"Okay the dragons gone, go for it now." With that I launched myself up the stairs towards the charred remains of the soldiers. Twisting in my step, I pressed my back to the wall opposite the gaping hole and pushed off of it as I dashed across the hallway and leaped out of the tower towards the inns burning roof. As I tore through the weak thatch I felt hot embers fall down my tunic and burn my chest. I landed on my feet, bending at the knees and looked around the room. I was in one of the inns attic rooms, sparsely furnished and dim. It was it looked as though no one was staying in it right then. Wasting no time, I rammed through the door and into the hallway. Instantly I saw a massive hole in the floor at the end of the corridor. Dashing towards it I jumped down to the ground floor and climbed out an open window just before the inn collapsed behind me, brought down by wood rot, termites and MASSIVE DRAGON ATTACK.

"_Well then, I guess that Raloft won't be following us soon," _thought I, hoping the human would find a way out. Turning from the ruined inn I saw the Imperial scribe crouched behind a ruined stone wall with an old man and yelling at a young boy cowering in the street. "Haming you need to get over here now!" yelled the scribe. I ran over to the wall and crouched behind the scribe as the boy limped over to him. Just as the boy reached the wall the dragon dropped out of the sky and spewed flame toward us. The fire curled over the wall and scorched the top of my hair as we curled up to avoid the fire. After the dragon was finished the scribe spoke to the boy.

"Don't worry Haming, you're doing great."

Turning his attention to me he said "Still alive prisoner? Stick with me if you want to stay that way."

"Gunner, take care of the boy. I have to find General Tullius and join the defence," he told the old man.

"Gods guide you, Hadvar," said the old man.

"_Ah so Hadvar is his name. I wish I could just see people's names tattooed on their chest or something like that"_

"_Id, are you going to start tattooing people in their sleep again? Because that always leads to trouble for us," _thought I.

"_Don't get all high and mighty on me, mister. If I recall correctly it was you who got us in to this mess in the first place."_

"_If you two could stop arguing, we need to go now," _said Se.

Looking up at Ids remark I saw the newly named Hadvar running off towards an alleyway between a wall and the ruins of some building that had been wrecked beyond recognition. Jumping to my feet I sprinted towards the alleyway. As I got behind Hadvar I heard wings off to my left.

"Stay close to the wall!" yelled Hadvar and I was lucky that I had already plastered myself to it as the Dragon landed on the top of the wall right above me. It faced down an alleyway perpendicular to our own and burnt an archer standing in it to a crisp. I froze and waited for the dragon to leave, every muscle tensed as I prayed it wouldn't look down and notice me. After a few agonising seconds it leaped from its perch and flew over the alleyway. Seeing my chance I raced down the alleyway through a burning house and across the courtyard. Following Hadvar towards the keep I saw Raloft jumping over a ruined wall and come running towards the keep.

"Raloft, you damned traitor! Out of my way!" yelled Hadvar

"We're escaping Hadvar! You're not stopping us this time."

"Fine, I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovngarde!"

With that they both ran toward difference gates into the keep.

"_Hmmmmmm, should we go with the people who tried to execute us, or the people who helped us escape from the people who tried to execute us," _said Se_. "It's a no brainer really."_

"_Yeah, it is isn't it" _I sighed as I rushed after Raloft.

When I entered the keep it took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dim lighting and to pick out Ralofts' shape in the gloom. He was crouched over the body of a stormcloak solider. As I walked over to him he turned and started talking.

"Was that really a dragon? A harbinger of the end times?" he said.

"I don't know, it certainly wasn't a salamander we saw out there."

"No it certainly was not," he chuckled "Come here, let me see if a can get your bindings off."

I walked forward and held out my hands for him to cut off the bonds with his iron dagger. After he was finished with the leather he gestured towards the body on the floor "You should take Gunders gear, he won't be needing it anymore."

"Yes, and thank you for helping me." I muttered

"Don't mention it, friend" said Raloft

As Raloft walked towards a door on the far side of the room I began to strip the corpse of its armour and weapons. It had a set of chain mail and fur armour, much tougher and better suited to the weather than my filthy old rags. The corpse was also equipped with an iron axe, an old empty knapsack, fur boots and a cheap silver ring. I struggled to pull on the armour. It was just a little too tight for me but a few hours with a kitted out forge would have it fitting me like a glove. I looked around for a large forge in this entrance hall but was quickly disappointed, it would have to wait.

"_Yes it can wait. You know, until there isn't a huge fucking dragon outside you idiot!" _screamed Se

Knocked back to reality, I threw the boots and ring into the knapsack and placed the strap over my shoulder like a bandolier. I slid the axe into its ring on the belt and turned to follow Raloft down the tunnel just as the building shook and the roof of the corridor collapsed. Rushing towards the tunnel I bellowed down the rubble filled passageway.

"Raloft, are you all right?!"

"I'm fine Or,gart, but we'll have to find our own way out. I think these hallways meet up near the dungeons, but it will take time for me to dig through these rocks though. You go on ahead a ways and find where the passages meet up."

"Okay, then I'll meet you there. Don't get yourself killed."

"I try to avoid that," chuckled Raloft.

As I turned from the rubble pile and marched across the room I hear a woman's voice from past a locked gate.

"Get that gate open solider, move it!"

"_Ah, what a wonderful surprise, the good captain. It's time to make good on our promise to her," _growled Id as my hands rose and cracked my knuckles.

"_The last time this happened I woke up with blood in my teeth and a missing house pet."_

"_Well I'm sure you've learnt how to stay awake past the change by now, and you'll want to this time, because it is going to be fun!" _


End file.
